Joss Whedon wants more female superheroes: 'It pisses me off'

The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon has yet again voiced his frustration for the lack of powerful female characters in film. But this time, it's personal…

"My daughter watched The Avengers and was like, 'My favourite characters were the Black Widow and Maria Hill,' and I thought, 'Yeah, of course they were,'" he said in a recent interview.

The Buffy creator also believes that the Hunger Games franchise will have an impact on these studio decisions to shy away from strong female role models, due to the popularity of the dominant character of Katniss Everdeen, portrayed by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence.

"Toymakers will tell you they won't sell enough, and movie people will point to the two terrible super heroine movies that were made and say, 'You see? It can't be done'. It's stupid, and I'm hoping The Hunger Game movies will lead to a paradigm shift." You tell 'em Joss!

"It's frustrating to me that I don't see anybody developing one of these movies. It actually pisses me off," he said during the interview with The Daily Beast.

So where does this frustration stem from?

"I was raised by a hardcore feminist," he explained. "I was also much smaller than my brothers and bullied a lot, so I identify with the feeling of helplessness."

Joss is busy working on putting together The Avengers 2 as well as a pilot for a new sci-fi TV series called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

But a project closer to his heart is a modern day reworking of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing with Angel's gorgeous Amy Acker as Beatrice and Buffy's Alexis Denisof as Benedick. Not to mention the brooding Captain Hammer himself Nathan Fillion as Dogberry. Check out the trailer below!

Much Ado About Nothing will be out on limited release in Australian cinemas from July 11.